By leaving, Poroshenko made two new Ukrainians
Petro Poroshenko granted Ukrainian citizenship to former deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Ilya Ponomarev and Oleg Sentsov’s sister Natalya Kaplan, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Finally, it’s done! Today, the current President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, on the last working day of his term, signed a decree granting me Ukrainian citizenship, in accordance with state interests,” Ponomarev wrote on Facebook.
He added that this would mean a new stage in his life and a great honor, and also added that he would use the new status to attract new foreign investment for the country, create new jobs and increase the state budget.
“It’s finished! I am a citizen of Ukraine,” Kaplan wrote in turn.
Ilya Ponomarev was a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation until June 10, 2016, although in June 2014 he left Russia for the United States, and on June 24, 2016 received a residence permit in Ukraine. He was the only Russian deputy who voted against the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation in March 2014.
Natalya Kaplan has Russian citizenship, but she has been living in Ukraine for a long time. She conducts and coordinates actions in defense of her brother Oleg Sentsov, who is serving a prison sentence in the Russian Federation for preparing a terrorist attack.
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